Death Review Committee Regulations
made under Section 41A of the
Fatality Investigations Act
S.N.S. 2001, c. 31
N.S. Reg. 138/2021 (effective October 26, 2021)
Table of Contents
Please note: this table of contents is provided for convenience of reference and does not form part of the regulations.
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Citation
Definitions
Composition of Committees
Quorum of Committee
Term of membership
Remuneration and reimbursements
Duties of Chair
Duties of Vice-chair
Meetings
Agreements to facilitate work of Committee
Publication of portion of review reports
Child Death Review Committee annual report
Assessment of available data on critical injuries
Domestic Violence Death Review Committee annual report
Records of reports
Citation
1 These regulations may be cited as the Death Review Committee Regulations.
Definitions
2 In these regulations,
“Act” means the Fatality Investigations Act;
“Chair” means the Chief Medical Examiner, designated as Chair of all Committees
by subsection 39E(5) of the Act;
“member” means a person appointed under Section 3 to serve on a committee;
“review report” means a written report of a Committee prepared under Section
39G of the Act;
“Vice-chair” means the Vice-chair of a Committee designated by the Minister
under subsection 39E(6) of the Act.
Composition of Committees
3 (1) A Committee may consist of any of the following members in addition to the
Chair:
(a) employees of the public service, who must be appointed to the Committee
by the Deputy Minister of the department in which they are employed;
(b) persons not employed in the public service, who must be appointed to the
Committee by the Chair.
(2) A Committee must have a minimum of 5 members, including the Chair.
Quorum of Committee
4 (1) Two-thirds of the members of a Committee constitute a quorum.
(2) A Committee must not approve the Committee’s final report in the absence of a
quorum.
Term of membership
5 (1) Members are appointed for a 3-year term and may be reappointed.
(2) There is no limit on the number of terms a member can serve.
(3) A member’s appointment may be revoked by the person who made the
appointment or that person’s successor.
Remuneration and reimbursements
6 (1) Members not employed in the public service or not otherwise receiving
compensation from their employer for their participation on the Committee must
be paid $125 for each half day or $250 for each full day of participation in duly
called Committee meetings.
(2) Members are entitled to be reimbursed for actual and reasonable expenses they
incur in the discharge of their duties, but reimbursement for those expenses must
not exceed that normally payable to members of the public service.
(3) Members described in clause 3(1)(a) must submit their expense claims in
accordance with government policy and procedure.
(4) Members described in clause 3(1)(b) must submit their expense claims to the
Chair.
Duties of Chair
7 (1) The Chair has general supervision and direction over the conduct of a Committee
and is responsible for the administration of all Committees.
(2) The duties described in subsection (1) include the performance of all of the
following tasks:
(a) reporting to the Minister, as required, respecting the activities of a
Committee;
(b) consulting with the Minister regarding the appointment of a Vice-chair of a
Committee;
(c) convening Committee meetings;
(d) in consultation with members, determining the procedure to be followed by
a Committee in carrying out its responsibilities;
(e) liaising with the Public Prosecution Service to ensure the review of a
specific death does not interfere with a criminal investigation or prosecution
in accordance with Section 39F of the Act.
Duties of Vice-chair
8 The Vice-chair must exercise any duties the Chair assigns to the Vice-chair.
Meetings
9 A Committee must meet a minimum of 2 times per year.
Agreements to facilitate work of Committee
10 With the approval of the Minister, the Chair may enter into agreements to facilitate the
work of a Committee.
Publication of portion of review reports
11 (1) Within a reasonable time after receiving a review report, the Minister must make
public the portion of the report that details the Committee’s advice and
recommendations to the Minister on preventing similar deaths.
(2) The Minister must ensure that any personal information or other information that
would identify or enable the identification of the following is removed from any
portion of a review report before it is made public under subsection (1):
(a) the persons whose deaths were the subject of the report;
(b) persons referred to in Section 94 of the Children and Family Services Act.
Child Death Review Committee annual report
12 (1) The Child Death Review Committee must provide the Minister with an annual
report for publication that includes all of the following:
(a) descriptions of trends in deaths of residents of the Province who are under
age 25;
(b) the Committee’s recommendations for system improvements aimed at
reducing the number of deaths of residents of the Province who are under
age 25;
(c) a summary of the Committee’s recommendations for system improvements
arising out of its review of individual child deaths during the year.
(2) Publication of the report described in subsection (1) may include publication by
electronic means.
Assessment of available data on critical injuries
13 (1) No later than 18 months after the date these regulations come into force, the Child
Death Review Committee must provide the Minister with an assessment of
available data on critical injuries sustained by children in Nova Scotia and a
recommendation as to how the available data may inform the committee’s work.
(2) The assessment of available data described in subsection (1) must include all of the
following:
(a) the proposed definition of “critical injuries”;
(b) the age range to be utilized in the analysis of critical injuries data;
(c) a list of sources of available data and information on critical injuries that
could be used by the committee to inform its work and a determination of
the authority of the committee to collect and utilize that data and
information;
(d) a list of additional resources or types of expertise required to enable the
committee to obtain and analyze critical injuries data;
(e) the proposed mechanism and frequency of public reporting of critical
injuries data (e.g., through inclusion in the Committee’s annual report);
(f) any additional information the Committee determines it is necessary to
include.
Domestic Violence Death Review Committee annual report
14 (1) The Domestic Violence Death Review Committee must provide the Minister with
an annual report for publication that includes all of the following:
(a) descriptions of trends in deaths reviewed by the Committee;
(b) a summary of the Committee’s recommendations for system improvements
arising out of its review of individual domestic violence deaths during the
year.
(2) Publication of the report described in subsection (1) may include publication by
electronic means.
Records of reports
15 The Chair must maintain electronic records of the reports of all Committees.
The following regulations are not yet in force and
are not included in the current consolidation: